Bitcoin Drops by Over 30% as Internal Wrangles Go Public

Infighting Could Be Causing Bitcoin Value to Drop

On December 17, 2017, Bitcoin nearly hit $20,000, but shortly after that, it tumbled to a low of $13,294. Some analysts are blaming this significant drop in value on serious internal wrangling in the Bitcoin community. For some time now, there have been many unresolved issues, which have led to a significant civil war in the Bitcoin community.

Problems Leading to Civil Strife

In recent times, some users of Bitcoin have described trying to make purchases only to find that it was impossible. This was because of how high the transaction fees were. The main reason for the high transaction fees is the crowding on the network. Bitcoin just became too popular too quickly.

The drawn-out infighting over how to fix the issue came to the fore a few days ago on national television. It was when Roger Ver, a crypto coin pioneer appeared on CNBC to air out the dirty linen. Ver was on the TV station to promote Bitcoin Cash, a fork of Bitcoin. It was seen as a solution to the significant flaws that Bitcoin currently has, especially issues to do with scaling.

On the program, Ver warned those interested in Bitcoin could experience “a mass exodus of people rushing for the door.” At the time, the CNBC Twitter account received multiple accusations of being a shill for tweeting something that appeared to be supportive of Bitcoin Cash.

What Is Shilling?

Shilling is a phenomenon that has become quite prevalent in the cryptocoin community in recent years. It is where a person interested in the rise or fall of a particular digital coin puts out information in the community.

For instance, a shill will purchase specific cryptcoins that are of low value, then spend the next few weeks hyping this new currency and all that it can do. As a result, its value will rise significantly. Other shills are just malicious; they hope a cryptocoin drops in value by putting out false information. In some cases, they just enjoy watching others suffer. In other cases, they are professional mainstream media unwittingly giving out information that is not accurate.

Almost immediately after the tweet by CNBC, Coinbase stopped all trade in BTC over concerns that there might have been some insider trading. It will only further affect investor confidence in cryptocoins in general.

Conflicts in the cryptocoin world are not new. Price drops are also quite common. In recent months, Bitcoin has seen its price drop twice. In most cases, believers of Bitcoin will hold onto it and hope that it rebounds. Supporters are also optimistic that a long-term solution to the issue will be found soon.

However, a significant issue of concern is whether a large mass of investors, who came to Bitcoin due to its substantial price gain, will stick with it through its fall and rise.

What do you think about the sudden drops in Bitcoin? Will the underlying issues be resolved? Leave us a comment below.